


Off The Starlight Express and Into the Woods

by THACA221B



Series: The Price of Revival (Or: Angus Does Favors For Istus, Who Loves To Meddle) [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angus is gonna get a REALLY big family, Angus kinda dies, Crossover, F/F, Gen, He's a good detective boyo, He's still just a kid though, Like really smart, Magical Artifacts, Smart Angus McDonald, The Adventure Zone: Amnesty, The Adventure Zone: Balance, The Pine Guard likes Ango, The goddesses love to meddle, We all love our precious detective boy, but it's cool, the Raven Queen has plans for this young one, voidfish effects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-05-04 21:55:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 9,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14602548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/THACA221B/pseuds/THACA221B
Summary: "Angus didn't truly remember much of what happened as they lept from the train. He remembers disagreeing with Taako's decision, then being pushed out, likely by Taako. Taako shouted out that he would be fine as he screamed. He flew for a while, then his head hit something hard.""Duck Newton ("It's a nickname.") had gotten used to his nightly visits from Minerva. He was dressed up in training clothes, sitting on his couch as Wheel of Fortune slowly drew to a close. As 6:14 came around, he expected to see the blue, spectral figure of his 'Trainer', but was instead greeted by the small form of a child, bruised and bloody."Far away in the Celestial Plane, two Goddesses laugh.





	1. An Unexpected Visitor

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Second Chances](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14455212) by [Madame de flammes (owlaholic68)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlaholic68/pseuds/Madame%20de%20flammes). 



> This was a little thing that has been in my head, even when I should be updating other fanfictions. Oh well...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duck lost Minerva but was visited anyway, Angus has gone through what no child should, and two goddesses are laughing their asses off.

Duck Newton ("It's a nickname.") had gotten used to his nightly visits from Minerva. He was dressed up in training clothes, sitting on his couch as _Wheel of Fortune_ slowly drew to a close. As 6:14 came around, he expected to see the blue, spectral figure of his "Trainer", but was instead greeted by the small form of a child, bruised and bloody. He jumped to his feet and quickly caught the child before he hit the ground. His dirty blonde hair was stained with blood from a large gash going from his forehead to above his ear. He did not seem to be conscious, but the sudden jerking movements seemed to have stirred his slightly. His eyes were scrunched up - either in pain or confusion - and then they started to flutter open.

"Hey, kid, calm down. You're pretty badly hurt, I don't want you to get any more hurt by struggling. How are you feeling?"

"Wha... Wh-Who are you... sir?"

He chuckled slightly at the kid's extensive etiquette, even when in pain. "I'm Duck Newton, it's a nickname. Who are you?"

"I'm... Angus. Angus McDonald. What happened? The train, it, it..."

Duck frowned. If this kid had been near a train, then how did he get into the apartment? Did Minerva have something to do with this?

"What train, kid? I'll be honest, it's been a bit weird. You kinda just...  _appeared_ in my apartment. Not the weirdest thing, as of late, but still pretty darn weird."

Angus seemed much more lucid now. He tried to sit up but was gently pushed back down by Duck with a stern look. "I was on the Rockport Limited. Taako, he... he was having us all jump. I was pushed out."

* * *

Angus didn't truly remember much of what happened as they lept from the train. He remembers disagreeing with Taako's decision, then being pushed out, likely by Taako. Taako shouted out that he would be fine as he screamed. He flew for a while, then his head hit something hard.

From there, things were dark and fuzzy for a while until he was in a strange room. He couldn't quite place the color; he wasn't quite sure there  _was_ a color. There were two women in the room. One sat on a large throne-like structure and didn't appear quite _normal_. She was robed in a fabric that looked like Raven feathers. Beside her, sitting on the steps up to the throne was a much different woman. This one had pure white, glowing hair, but otherwise appeared completely normal. She was knitting away at a large tapestry, but looked up every so often and smiled at him. It was the woman on the throne that spoke first.

"Angus McDonald, I did not want to see you this soon. Whatever happened... well, it wasn't supposed to happen. So, you will be returned to your world."

"I... I will? Isn't that necrotic? Won't I get in trouble?"

The woman smiled. "Do not worry, child. I have made sure to inform my Reapers that this is allowed, both by myself and Istus. Who, I believe, has something she wants to ask you."

The other woman looks up at him, setting down her knitting needles. She beckons him over and he scampers over awkwardly, suddenly coming to the realization that he is in the presence of two goddesses.

"What, uh, can I do to help you, ma'am?"

"Well, Angus McDonald, as I'm sure you might know, this world is not the only world for whom I weave the strings of fate. There is another world of mine that is in dire need of assistance. I believe you could do good there. They are... odd, but I will leave you with a good man. He will help you. Then, after, you will return to your body as if nothing happened." She smiled at him and offered a hand. "Will you take the case?"

Angus responded without hesitation.

"Yes."

* * *

Duck wasn't quite sure what to make of the story. He had not heard head or tail of goddesses or elves or dwarves. It seemed like some work of fiction. Yet, the injuries that the boy was covered with and the absolute remorse and misery told Duck that it was real, or that Angus believed it was real. Either way, he figured that he should bring him to Amnesty Lodge. Maybe Barclay or someone would know more about what he's talking about.

"I'm gonna patch you up, 'kay, kid?"

Angus nodded, still wrapped up in his thoughts. Duck gathered his first aid supplies and they sat in a still silence that was only broken by a harsh hiss of pain from the small boy.

Duck tied the final bandage off and stepped away from Angus. "There we go, kid."

"Thank you, sir."

Duck shrugged. "Well, it's the least I can do, ya know, since you landed in my livin' room. However, I think I should bring you to some friends of mine that know a bit more about all this stuff than I do." He saw Angus begin to stand up. "That can wait til tomorrow, though. You need all the rest you can get so you can heal up."

Angus nodded, lying down on the couch and quickly falling asleep. Duck smiled at the small boy and waited until he was sure Angus was asleep to carry him to Duck's bed.

Duck made himself comfortable on the couch. He had a hard time falling asleep, though, with the events of the night still fresh in his mind.

* * *

Duck's dream was odd. It was blurry, hazy, and out of focus, but he could make out enough. He saw a large storm, some sort of hunger, eating everything. He saw a silver ship and the pure white figures of seven people. 

 _Seven Birds_ , his mind supplied, though he wasn't sure why.

Then, he saw those same figures - minus one - and the same storm, but no longer on the ship. They were surrounded by other figures, one of which he could clearly make out as Angus. They were all fighting dark creatures valiantly, then a burst of fire came from an object held by one of the 7 figures and the missing one emerged from the flames.

The scene shifts and he sees some sort of jellyfish in a large tank, humming and singing with a spectral violin player.

 

Then Duck woke up.


	2. A Trip to Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angus is taken to Amnesty Lodge, Duck is thrown by new information, and Aubrey gets a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, I forgot to mention, I don't own any of this. Though, if you're here, you probably know that this is all the work of them good McElroy Boys.

Angus McDonald didn't remember falling asleep, but when he woke up, he felt a hundred times better. He could hardly tell that he had been thrown from a train the day before.

 He left the bedroom to find Duck, only to hear a conversation outside the bedroom door. Angus stood with his ear to the door.

"... are you talking about, Duck Newton?" The voice who was talking was... odd, and didn't sound human.

"I'm saying that he came through a portal from some fantasy universe. I figured that you might know something about it. You ain't exactly  _normal_ , Beacon."

There was a pause where the second voice just hummed, most likely thinking. "Perhaps, if given more information, I could discover the location of this world in the infinite multiverse, Duck Newton."

"Well, I've already told you all I know abou-"

Angus opened the door, looking, shocked, at Duck, who stood alone save for the sword held in his hand. A sword that had a mouth.

"I live in Faerûn if that's any help."

Both turned to look at him (if a sword could turn to look at anyone). Duck attempted to hide the sword, but any attempt at that was futile because Beacon had already begun to speak.

"Ah, from Faerûn, eh?" The sword chuckled. "And what is your name, child?"

Angus paused. "...Angus McDonald."

If it were possible, the sword froze in its place. "Angus... McDonald?"

He nodded, still staring at the sword. Now that he was feeling better, his detective's brain was on full power. He really wanted to know how the sword worked, how it was  _alive_.

The sword groaned, muttered, "Duck Newton, you get yourself into the worst situations," and went quiet.

Both Duck and Angus stared at the sword, then at each other.

"Well,  _that_ hasn't happened before."

They stood silent for a while longer, then Angus broke out in a fit of giggles, join quickly by Duck's laughter.

* * *

After the incident with the sword, whose name he learned was Beacon, Angus and Duck quickly got themselves together, had breakfast, and left for this "Amnesty Lodge".

The place was fairly empty by the time that Duck and Angus got there. Though, according to Duck, the place was fairly empty  _most_ of the time. Currently, however, it was just the dredges of the Pine Guard - Aubrey and Barclay - as well as a couple other sylphs that were loitering about or getting ready to take a dip in the hot springs. Luckily for Duck, the FBI agent was nowhere to be seen.

Aubrey, however, was easily found. She was sitting at a table, talking excitedly to Dani. She turned when she heard the door open and watched as Duck and a small child walked into the main lobby of the Lodge. She smiled and waved, standing up to approach them.

"Hey, Duck. Who's this?" She knelt down to be on eye level With Angus, who was fairly small for his age.

"Hello, ma'am. My name is Angus McDonald." He held out his hand.

She took his hand and gave a "firm" handshake, smiling. "Well, hello, Angus. I'm Aubrey."

She stood and looked at Duck, then at Angus, then back at Duck with a raised eyebrow. "Care to explain, Duck, ol' friend?"

"Angus, why don't you go find a seat. I'll be right there. I just want to talk to Aubrey for a little bit."

Angus nodded. "It's okay, sir. You can just tell me you don't want me to listen next time. I figured that out very quickly."

He walked away, towards a table near the side of the room, where there were fewer people. Once he was out of earshot, Duck turned back to Aubrey, who was looking at him expectantly. "Okay, it better be  _really good_ now."

Duck sighed. "Well, you know how sometimes I get an...  _odd_ visitor?"

"Yes," she said, drawing out the single syllable word.

"Well, instead of  _her_ , he came tumblin' out a portal into my living room, beaten up and bruised. I patched him up, but only got a little bit out of him from last night into this morning. However, he did tell Beacon that he was from some place called  _'Faerûn'_ , which he told me last night is another dimension. I took him here cause maybe Barclay or one of the others will know what he's talking about."

Aubrey looked over to where Angus was sitting and smiled, holding back a laugh. "Well, he seems to have caught Dani's attention somehow."

And, sure enough, Dani and Angus were chatting it up. Dani seemed to be posing him questions, which he was answering easily, only spurring more questions from Dani.

Duck and Aubrey walked over to them, managing to catch the tail end of Angus's story.

"-and then he pushed me off, and I got really hurt. But that's fine, cause the Raven Queen said it wasn't supposed to happen, so, after this, she's gonna send me back."

"Why would he push you off? That's horrible."

Angus shrugged, looking down at his hands in his lap. "I don't think he meant for me to get hurt. After all, it's better to fall - or, well, be pushed - out of a train than to ride a crashing train into Neverwinter. Or, wherever they end up putting it."

Dani didn't look so sure, but she nodded anyway.

"Hey Angus, hey Dani," Aubrey said as she approached the duo. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Angus was telling me as to how he got here. It's odd. I have never heard of someone from Faerûn coming to this world that way."

Duck and Aubrey both looked at her. "So, you  _know_ about this place he's talking about?"

She shrugged. "I know as much as most sylphs know. It's another plane, the Prime Plane for our system, and it's pretty old fashioned compared to this world. Think fantasy stuff."

Aubrey's eyes were alight. "So, wait, do they have dragons?"

Angus nodded. "Yeah, we have dragons. I don't think I've ever seen one, but they exist somewhere. There are also Dragonborns, people who are descended from dragons."

 Aubrey quickly wrapped Angus into a conversation about his "...fancy fantasy world..." while Duck brought Dani to the side.

"So, what about this world you two were talkin' about? This  _'Faerûn' ****_?"

"Well, it's real, so don't be thinking anything else, Duck. Really, though? Not a lot is known about it, here or in Sylvain. What we do know is that it's a plane to be feared. They have immense power, a power we couldn't even dream of.  _Magic_ , and more than the sparks and flames that Aubrey can do. Full-on creatures made solely out of magical energy."

She paused, then sighed. "Angus is a good kid, you can trust him. I only worry about anyone who might come after him."

Duck was quiet. "Yeah, I... I guess that  _is_ somethin' to worry about."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the support so far. I'm really happy that people like this. The TAZ community, in my opinion (which I will admit is kinda biased), is one of the nicest. Anyway, here's the second chapter, and the third will come eventually.


	3. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barclay makes a ...friend?..., Aubrey learns something new, and Something wakes up.

If you were to say that Angus  _liked_ Barclay, that would be an understatement. It had taken a bit of time for the two to actually meet - Barclay was a bit concerned with the magical, inter-planar boy and said boy was too wrapped up in his stories - but once they met they clicked instantly. As it turns out, the two of them were both, as Aubrey put it, "complete and total nerds".

"And your world is  _alive_?" Angus was practically vibrating as his gaze switched between his notebook - open to a once blank page that was quickly filling up - and Barclay himself.

"Yes, Sylvain is alive, in a sense."

"And sylphs live off the energy of the world?"

Barclay nodded, once again confirming the statement.

"That's incredible!"

Duck walked back over, chuckling as he caught the tail end of the conversation. Barclay, who had originally been excited to talk to Angus, was now looking to Duck and Aubrey with a pleading look. Aubrey had to stifle her giggle as she called out for Angus.

"Hey, Ango, do you want to meet Dr. Harris Bonkers? I think you might like him."

"Is this Dr. Bonkers a sylph, too?"

"Well, we're not quite su-"

"He's a rabbit," Duck said, elbowing Aubrey in the side.

"But he's very intelligent for a rabbit, so who knows?"

Aubrey led the interested child off from the Bigfoot as Duck walked over to him. "Was the kid too much for you?"

Barclay shot him a look and sighed. "It has been... _a_ _while_ since I have interacted with children, especially one as energetic as Angus. He is a good kid, though."

"Yeah, he seems like a good kid. I hope he doesn't get caught by any of the 'Bom-Boms. We're due for one soon, aren't we?"

"If the pattern holds true, then yes."

* * *

"Hey, Ango, why are you here? You told Dani you were given a mission, but what is it?"

Angus looked down at his hands. "I'm... not quite sure. I was told that this world needed help. I can assume I'm supposed to keep fate from being changed."

"That's pretty heavy for an 11 year old. You sure you can handle this?"

At that, Angus's back straightened and his eyes shone. "Of course, Miss. This is just another case, after all." He gave a beaming smile, showing off a gap where he had lost a tooth from falling off the train.

"So," he said as he pulled a notebook from his vest pocket, "has anything odd been happening here?"

 Aubrey smirked. "Boy do you need to be caught up, kid. Kepler is a magnet for weird. I mean," she lit a flame on her finger, " you're talking to someone who can do magic.

Aubrey's smirk faded into a confused expression when Angus barely batted an eye. Angus saw her face drop and looked around, confused, as well. "Wait, is magic not  _normal_ in your world?"

"I actually think it's you that needs to be caught up, Miss."

* * *

Later that night, deep within the Monongahela Forest, something stirred. It was old, powerful, and  _so hungry_.

As the moon began to make its way down the night sky, thousands of eyes opened.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so, I'm so sorry that this is really short, but I've been having trouble writing this and really wanted to get the big bad established. So... yeah.
> 
> Also, Ned should be brought in next chapter, so, yay! The gang will be back together.
> 
> Again, sorry.


	4. A Looming Doom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirby freaks out, Ned meets the New Kid, and the Pine Guard realizes something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about the long wait. I'm terrible with deadlines. I'll try to be quick with the next chapter.
> 
> (Also, just know that I will be ranting and spouting my love for you all in the end note.)

"Slow down, kid. I can barely understand you with how fast you're talking. Go again."

Ned watched Kirby calm down before speaking again, still with a similar panic. "Last night, I was in the woods, looking for something to drum up business, you know? The Big Foot craze won't last long. But, uh, when I was out there, something happened. The sky went black - like pitch black - and there were these... eyes."

"Eyes? What are you talking about?"

"Eyes, in the sky. They opened up and there was this... noise. I felt as if I was gonna pass out. It was, um, looking for something, I think."

Ned just stared at him. " _Right_. So, you're telling me that some  _eyes_  opened up in the sky and were  _looking for something_."

"Yeah... The, um- The noise. It was hard to understand, but one thing came through loud and clear." Kirby paused.

"And that  _is_?"

"... it was Hungry."

* * *

Aubrey smiled and waved at Ned as he walked into the lodge. He gave a weak smile and waved back, but made his way over to Barclay, where the man was talking to a young kid.

"Hey, Barclay. You, uh, got a minute?"

The Bigfoot smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I do. Hold on a minute, Angus, I'll be right back."

The kid smiled and nodded. "Alright, sir."

Ned led Barclay off, his face still grim with worry.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Have you, uh, ever heard about something like eyes in the sky?"

"I mean, there are military planes that fly over every so often. Is tha-"

"No, I mean, like, actual eyes."

Barclay froze. "What do you mean by that?"

"I  _mean_ that Kirby said he saw eyes open up and look around last night. He said they were in the  _sky_ and that said sky had turned pitch black."

Barclay stared at Ned as if he had grown a second head. He seemed lost in his own thoughts as Ned watched him stumble back, heading to Mama's office and searching around. He came back out with what looked like a worn notebook. He flipped through the pages, then stopped on one and stared at it for a while. Eventually, he turned it to Ned.

The page in question was covered in pencil scribbles which had colored the entire page a dark grey. The only spots free from the treatment were where eyes and oddly colored veins popped out. On the page, in a bright red, two words were violently scribbled: THE HUNGER.

The notebook - which was a scuffed-up, blue leather - was filled with other entries and drawings, but they all ended with that entity, the Hunger, destroying everything. Over and over.

"What... What is this?"

"It fell through the portal one day. Mama thought it would be useful one day. I guess it was." Barclay flipped to the first page. "It was written by a woman named Lucretia. She... wasn't from Sylvaine. But she wasn't from this world, either. She was, in the simplest terms, an alien. She and the crew she traveled with went from world to world, running from this thing: The Hunger."

Ned smirked at him. "An alien? Really? You expect me to believe that this  _thing_ is some sort of  _alien menace_?"

Barclay glared. "In the  _simplest terms_ , yes. But just because it seems ridiculous does not mean it is not dangerous."

"You're right, you're right. So... how do we fight it?"

"I... I don't know.."

The sound of someone clearing their very small throat came from the doorway. When they turned, they saw Angus in all his splendor. He gave them a proud smile.

"I believe that perhaps _I_ could be of some assistance."

* * *

Angus was in front of the Pine Guard, pacing. He flipped through the book, only to ask Barclay to take it back, saying it gave him "a headache". They had been trying to compile what they knew of "The Hunger".

"Alright, so, it's not from this world, for one. Nor do I think it's from mine. We know it appeared in the sky and that it has something to do with this woman, Lucretia."

Duck piped up. "Whatever it was, it seemed to really spook the wildlife in the park. The place was absolutely silent when I went out earlier today."

Ned nodded. "And I asked around town. No one else seemed to see it last night. Kirby was in the woods when he saw it. Do you think it could be looking for something in the woods?"

"Perhaps," Angus said, "but what would it be looking for?"

The Pine Guard all thought about it and came to the same, horrible realization at the same time.

"The Portal to Sylvaine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys SO MUCH for all the support. I really owe you guys. Honestly, I love the TAZ community and I feel honored that you guys are supporting this story. I feel really bad that I am so slow writing this, but I am so happy that you guys put up with it. School has started up again, so I'll be a little tight on time, but I'll do my best to get you guys the story that you want.
> 
> Thank you. Really.


	5. New Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aubrey Freaks Out™, Vincent meets is afraid, and Angus learns something shocking.

Aubrey leaped up. "We have to warn them."

She started towards the door but was stopped by Duck. "Aubrey, calm down. We can't rush into this."

"He's right," said Angus, "we need to plan this out."

"But," Aubrey looked back at them, "But they're in trouble."

Angus walked up to her and gave her a hug and her posture relaxed a little. "It's alright, Aubrey. We don't know for sure that they are in danger  _this minute_. So far, we've only seen a brief glimpse of whatever this is. Maybe it was a... scout, of some sort."

"You're right, Ango. You're right. I'm just... I'm just worried. I don't want anything to happen to Sylvaine."

Duck put a hand on her shoulder. "Nothin's gonna happen. We won't  _let_ anythin' happen."

"So,  _kid_ ," said Ed, staring at Angus with clear uncertainty, "what's the plan?"

"Do you have a library in this town?" At Duck's nod, he smiled. "I'm gonna do some research." 

* * *

 "What are you hoping to find, Ango?"

Aubrey sat across from Angus in the library, fiddling with pins and patches on her vest. Angus, on the other hand, had his nose pressed into a book, not looking up as he replied.

"I'm not sure. Some mention of the Hunger, I guess. Or of something similar."

Duck walked over with another stack of books in his arms and placed it next to all the other stacks surrounding Angus. "Here ya go, Kid. Found some more that mention somethin' like it."

Angus nodded, placing the finished book in a pile before looking at the new stack he had been given. He started leafing through the books and got 3 books in before he had to stop.

"What's wrong, kid?"

Duck watched as the kid rubbed his temples and closed the book.

"It... It feels  _weird_ to read. Like I'm not supposed to. Can one of you take a look at it?"

Ned swiped the book from the tabletop and opened to a random page before reading aloud. "'Through our travels, in a want to have something to call it, we have named it _The Hunger_. Lup had wanted to call it-' I, uh, I have no clue what that word is. '-the Elvish word for Capitalism. We had decided against it. Currently, our plan is to hide the Light inside of 7 artifacts of our own creation, imbued with our own magic in an attempt to hide it. At the moment, though, we simply wish to  _find_ the Light of Creation before the plane is devoured by the Hunger once again.'" Ned froze. "Wait, what does it mean plane?"

"Wait, you guys don't know about the planes?" Angus frowned when the Pine Guard shook their heads. "Well, every world has a Planar System. The Planar System consists of 12 planes, with the main plane - the Prime Material Plane - in the center. Surrounding it are the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, the Celestial Plane, the Plane of Magic, and the Plane of Thought. Surrounding  _that_ are the four Elemental Planes - Earth, Fire, Air, and Water - and the Planes of Shadow and Light."

"So, let me get this straight," Ned sighed, "The world is in this 'Planar System' thing and this thing,  _The Hunger_ , wants to  _eat_ our plane."

"If the book says that, then yes, that's what I assume."

"Great."

Aubrey frowned. "I really feel like we should tell someone in Sylvaine. Maybe that goat guy? What was his name? Vlad? Victor?"

Duck jumped back into the conversation. "Of course, we should go talk to Vincent!"

As Duck and Ned started heading out, Angus and Aubrey walked behind. Aubrey whispered a quiet, "Oh, right. Vincent," as she walked. 

* * *

As moonlight made its way through the canopy of the woods, a group of 4 figures walked diligently towards the arch. Each of the Pine Guard was wearing whatever their patch was sewn on to, and Angus was given one, which he neatly sewed into the inside of his hat.

The gateway wasn't very impressive, but that made sense to Angus. It made fewer people want to investigate it.

The Pine Guard led Angus through the portal into the wonderous Sylvaine. The boy didn't really get the chance to look, however, as the Pine Guard Trio quickly whisked him away to search for 'Vincent'.

They wandered through the woods surrounding the other side of the Gateway until, eventually, an exasperated voice called out from the tree line.

"Oh, it's you three again. What are you doing here? Is there another Abomination?"

"Not quite," said Duck as he pulled Angus out from behind him. "There might be, but it's not like the ones we're familiar with."

"I believe it's from my planar system. Or, at least, attracted by the energies  _of_ my planar system."

Vincent looked down at the small boy, realizing that he was there before looking back at Duck.

"I thought we talked about this.  _Only_ Pine Guard members are allowed in here."

"I feel like in times of crisis, that rule can be waved. Angus here is the only one who even has a  _clue_ of what's going on."

Vincent frowned. "What exactly  _is_ going on?"

"Well," Angus began, searching for words, "I'm not from this world. I come from a different planar system. I'm from Faerun. I got sent here to help out, I can assume now that it's with this new bad thing. Which, as we found out, is called _the Hunger_."

Vincent froze. "The Hunger? It's  _here_?"

"Wait, you know about it?" Aubrey frowned.

"Well, every life-loving, magically-aware creature has heard of  _The Hunger_ , especially these days. Plus, those 7 people came by and visited our world. They managed to escape and draw that  _thing_ along with them."

Angus frowned, another headache coming on and a familiar static filling his ears. "What are you saying, it's... I can't understand it."

"You can't hear him talk about some people who helped them out?"

"Well, I could understand  _that_. Maybe it was because Vincent said it?"

"Well, Ango, have you been able to hear everything else he said?"

Angus nodded.

"Well, then, that's probably not what's going on."

"Could it be what he is talking about?" Ned asked from the sidelines.

Vincent shrugged. "I'm not aware of anything happening, but if someone erased that Taako from existance, it would make me much happier."

Angus's jaw dropped.

"Taako?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all your support. I'm gonna try to get you guys lotsa chapters during October because I'm doing NaNo so I probably won't have the time in November.
> 
> Also, if you guys like Angus fanfiction, check out my new one "Daylight Come and Me Want to Go Home", which is a ghost!Blupjeans Beetlejuice!AU. It's a lot of fun.
> 
> Anyway, I'll see you all in the next chapter!


	6. The History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angus learns more about his old allies, the Pine Guard learns about the gods, and they all start their way to meet an old friend.

"Is this Taako an elf? Long, blonde hair? An odd accent? Carries around an umbrella?"

Vincent nodded along as Angus talked. "Well, he didn't carry an umbrella, but that sounds like him. And, I mean, how many obnoxious elves are there named Taako?"

"But, he's from my plane? How is it that he was here?"

"Well, he and his friends said that they traveled around a lot and that they were searching for something. I believe they called it  _The Light of Creation_."

Angus winced and rubbed his temples. "I'm sorry, I could hear that last part. The name of the thing they were looking for." He frowned. "Why don't you tell me their names. So I can see how many I'm able to hear. Maybe Taako was just a fluke."

"Well, there was Taako," he started, "and his sister, Lup. Then there was a human man, Magnus Burnsides, and a dwarf named Merle Highchurch. There was another human man named...  _Barry Bluejeans_. And then there was the young human girl, Lucretia. And their captain, Davenport."

Angus just frowned, "Well, I heard almost everyone. That one after Taako, the one that I think was someone to him. I couldn't hear their name, or who they were to him."

"Well, that's weird," Aubrey said.

"What's weirder is that I know three of those people. Taako, Magnus, and Merle. I met them on the train. Magnus took my book. Merle called me the wrong name all the time and tried to convert me into a Pananite. Taako pushed me off of a train."

"Wait," Aubrey broke in, waving her arms sporadically, "That was  _them_?"

Vincent, too, looked shocked. "They pushed you off a large, dangerous, moving machine?"

Angus blushed. "Well, it wasn't as bad as you think. I actually-"

"You  _died_ , Ango! It was  _pretty_ bad!"

Vincent, when hearing Aubrey shout, turned his attention more closely to Angus. He got very close - a bit too close for Angus's comfort, but at that point, he was too embarrassed to speak up - and began looking him over.

"You... died? Like, your soul left your body?"

"Yes, sir," Angus nodded, "I even met goddesses, like-"

"The Raven Queen?" Vincent had a small smirk.

Angus nodded, not even bothering to speak up again. He figured that - odds were - he would be interrupted again.

"Yes, we are still aware of the Gods and Goddesses here. The Prime Material Plane might not, however. I'm sure there are a few sects here and there still, but the belief has mostly died out there."

"That's odd, sir. Though, I suppose that it makes sense in a way. Scientifically speaking, your planar system seems far more advanced than ours does. I suppose that as technology and advanced thought progress, belief in the supernatural and religious decreases."

"That seems to be the way history has told it," Ned said.

"So," Vincent broke in, "The Raven Queen sent you here?"

"Well, less the Raven Queen and more Lady Istus."

Vincent nodded.

"Is that supposed to mean anything to us?" Aubrey asked.

"The Raven Queen is the goddess of life and death. Istus is the goddess of fate. Istus sent me here to help you guys with something, so it  _has_ to be something important."

"And you think it has something to do with this  _Hunger_ thing, Vincent?"

"Oh, I am fairly certain. If this child has met some of those people and now the Hunger has returned to our world, he most definitely is here to help with that."

"Well, where do we start?" asked Duck.

"Well, I would assume you would want to see Heathcliff."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry that this is so short. I kinda didn't have any good ideas and I'm trying to stockpile for November, so... Again, sorry. I promise the next one will be longer.


	7. The Artificer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pine Guard gets some gifts, Two special items are stolen, and Angus gets recognized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all your support of this story. I am really sorry about the length of the last chapter, I hope this made up for it. I'm very happy about this one, so enjoy.
> 
> Also, updates are probably gonna be sparse until December because I'm trying to save most of the chapters I write until November, where I won't be able to write new ones because of NaNo. So, there will be more chapters, you just gotta be patient.

The Pine Guard, with Angus in tow, made their way to the catacombs to see Heathcliff. Angus listened as Aubrey talked excitedly about Heathcliff, who was apparently a giant cat who lived below the city and made magic artifacts.

They soon entered a large cavernous room within the catacombs. Further within, two large, yellow eyes stared at their small group.

"Ah, the Pine Guard, back again. As far as  _I'm_ aware, there's no Abomination out and about at the moment, so what are you doing here?"

The cat looked over the group before his gigantic eyes landed on Angus. Then, in a much differently accented voice, he said, "Wait, Angus McDonald? What are  _you_ doing here?"

Angus, now with all eyes on him, shuffled his feet slightly. "Um, do I know you, sir?"

"Do you? Let's try this," he cleared his throat. "Would you like to make a deal?"

When Angus didn't respond, Heathcliff sighed. "Really? _Nothing_?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm afraid I just don't know you."

"Angus, why are you here?"

"Oh, well, the Raven Queen and Istus sent me here to help battle the Hunger."

Heathcliff frowned. "What was the last thing that happened before you were sent here, Angus."

"Well, I was thrown off a train before it barreled into a fake recreation of a murderer's garden."

"Ah, the Rockport case. Nevermind, then, we've never met before."

Angus frowned, confused. "If... If you say so, sir."

"Now," Heathcliff continued, "what can I help you with?"

"Well, we're fightin' this thing. Books we found called it The Hunger," Duck said.

"The Hunger, you say?" Heathcliff asked, then muttering, "I thought a different plane would be safer, but apparently not, those idiots."

"Can you help us, Heathcliff?" Duck asked, stepping forward and pulling the giant cat from his thoughts.

"I can't help you kill it. I just don't think it  _can_ die, and  _definitely_ not by  _your_ hands," Heathcliff said, "I  _can_ , however, give you things that might scare it off."

He reached down into the cavern he sat in, murmuring, "I'm sure Maggie won't mind if I borrow this," then coming back up with a large sword.

" _This_ is the Flaming Raging Poisoning Sword of Doom." He smirked. "It won't kill it, but it'll certainly give it a scare."

Duck took it, stumbling as the weight shocked him.

"Yeah, watch out for that, it's quite heavy."

Aubrey stepped forward. "Do you have anything good for me? Maybe something to help with my powers? If you think that would help?"

Heathcliff thought about it, then laughed. "Oh do I have the thing for  _you_."

He reached back down, groping around a little, then pulling up a purple umbrella.

"Wait, that's Taako's umbrella," Angus exclaimed.

"Oh, don't worry. All of them are asleep from the time I pulled it from, and they'll be asleep when I put them back. You forget that time works differently between Planar Systems."

Aubrey took the umbrella, gasping as it hummed beneath her fingers.

"Oh yes, you'll want to be careful with that. She's feisty."

Aubrey stepped back as Angus muttered, "She?" to himself. Then Ned walked up.

"What have you got for me, big guy?"

Heathcliff stared at him. "Um, well...  _No, no, the book wouldn't work_. Well, let me see." He ducked down into the cavern, ruffling through different things. "Aha," he exclaimed as he came back up, "I have  _this_."

Ned took it with a frown. "A  _flashlight_?"

"A  _magic_ flashlight."

"A  _flashlight_ ," Ned deadpanned.

"I mean if you're going to face off against this sort of primordial darkness, light is a good weapon.  _And_ it deals Radiant Damage."

While that comment seemed to go over the Pine Guards' heads, Angus seemed to understand. "Oh, I hope it's Vulnerable to Radiant."

Ned stepped back, butthurt.

Angus was prepared to leave when Heathcliff called his name.

"You don't think you get to leave without a magical artifact, do you, Angus?"

Angus, shocked, stepped forward. "Um, alright... What do I get?"

Heathcliff pulled up a magical focus in the form of a wand.

Angus took it hesitantly. "But, sir, I don't  _know_ magic."

Heathcliff smirked. "You  _sure_?"

"Yes, sir, I am  _very_ sure. If I had magic, I would use it more often. It seems useful, especially in detectiving."

"Well, just take it anyway."

Angus nodded, stepping back.

"Well, goodbye, Heathcliff," Aubrey said.

"Goodbye, Pine Guard. I'll see you soon, Angus."

Angus nodded.

They made it out from the catacombs quickly and started off towards the arch once more.

"Is he always like that?" Angus asked Aubrey as they walked.

"Who?"

"Heathcliff."

"Oh, well... No, not really. Do you know him? I know you said that you didn't but..."

"No, I really don't. I've never seen him before."

Aubrey shrugged. "Well, let's just head back home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, I know that technically, they get to ASK for whatever they want, but in this instance, Garf- ...Heathcliff... knows best. So, screw game mechanics.
> 
> Also, I didn't mention this before, but it deserves mentioning: We've reached over 100 kudos (nearly 150 at this rate), which is mindboggling for me. Thank you, guys, for liking this passion project of mine.


	8. The Artifacts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angus learns something about himself, Ned complains, and we meet a new face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! Another chapter. Sorry, it's kinda short, I'm more going for amount over length while working on these.
> 
> (Hi, I'm coming in now before I post this to say that after this I'm gonna be gone until December. But, I do have two more chapters written up. They're short and they'll be sparse, but I hope that will make up for it. And I'll be back before you know it. Wish me luck on NaNoWriMo! See you guys December... probably December 4th-ish.)

By the time they got back to Amnesty Lodge, it was dawning. Barclay was waiting outside the lodge and seemed to relax as they got closer. He hurried them inside and they sat down at one of the tables in the main room of the Lodge while he went to go gather some of books that he found from Mama's office.

"So, you recognize these?" Duck asked.

"Well, not  _all_ of them, sir. Just the umbrella actually. It belonged to Taako."

"The one who threw you off a train?" Aubrey asked.

Angus blushed. "Uh, yeah. That one." He cleared his throat. "But, unless there are multiple umbrellas like that, this one belonged to him."

"Well, why did Heathcliff give it to me?"

"Well," Angus said, his brain racing, "From my memory, the umbrella seemed quite skilled at evocation spells, despite the fact that I'm fairly sure Taako's a transmutation wizard."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, I don't know what your  _power_ is, but evocation is usually either aggressive, vibrant attacks or healing spells."

"I do a lot of fire magic. Does that count?"

Angus nodded, beaming. "Oh, yes, very mu-"

Aubrey let out a surprised yelp. "It  _moved_."

"It what?" Angus asked as he moved closer.

"It, like...  _wiggled_ when I said I did fire magic."

As she said this, the umbrella gave a wiggle, much more noticeably, too, this time.

"It did," Angus said, frowning. "May I hold it?"

Aubrey nodded, handing the umbrella off to Angus, only to yelp again as it flew back to her hands and shook more.

"I think you have a fan, Aubrey," Ned chuckled from the side.

"I  _hate_ this umbrella, whatever it is."

She put it aside. "So, Duck, show us your cool sword again."

Duck sighed and brought the sword out. Looking at it in the light of the lodge allowed them to see more details of it. For one, it was perpetually on fire, yet it hadn't seemed to set anything on fire yet. And it had a scorpion's stinger - still dripping with the venom - on the tip of the blade. It was also about as tall as he was.

"You should be glad Beacon's not here," Aubrey chuckled, "Or else we'd be dealing with a sword cat-fight."

 "Why do you two get cool magical stuff and I get this  _magic flashlight_ ," Ned griped, tossing the flashlight in question on the table.

In reality, it wasn't even quite a flashlight. From the looks of it, it was a small log of wood with some sort of filter over one end and a stopper in the other. Within the body of the tube, numerous runes of both arcane and divine nature were carved in. The most prominent one - and the one casting the most light - was the rune of the god Pan at the very end, on the stopper.

"Hey, who knows," Aubrey said with a smile, "maybe yours is gonna be the most powerful. Isn't that how the movies always do it? That the most insignificant looking one is the most significant?"

"Worst case, you've got your NARF from last time. That might make a dent," Duck said.

"At least you got something you could use, sir," Angus said with a pout. "He gave  _me_ a  _wand_. And I'm not even a magic class."

Angus gave the wand a half-hearted wave. It didn't seem to do anything at first, which didn't surprise Angus.

What  _did_ surprise Angus was the spectral, malformed hand that flew out of it seconds later. Aubrey gave a shriek and Ned gave out a startled shout as it crawled its horrible form towards them. Angus tossed the wand at the hand but it disappeared as he let go of the wand and clattered to the ground. Duck stared at the ground where the wand now laid, then back at Angus.

"So much for not being a magic user, huh?" Duck chuckled.

"Wait, let me try!" Aubrey exclaimed before pointing her umbrella at one of the walls.

"Wait, don-" Angus tried to warn her, but he was too late as the umbrella let out a large burst of energy and knocked everyone back. Aubrey mamanged to keep hold of the umbrella, but as shje was launched back, it smalled against one of the tables and there was a loud  _CRACK_. Then, a burst of light exploded and, amongst the light, there was a figure that stood up from the umbrella. They looked around before settling on the group of them.

"Well, then. Who are you?" The figure asked as they - now a recognizably female figure of elven origin - stepped from the pillar of what they now realize is also fire. "And where's my brother?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't wait to see you guys next chapter. And that's for 1,000 hits!


	9. The Ally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup is confused, Barclay does not like, and the mystery continues to unravel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's kinda short again. Sorry.

The Pine Guard and Angus gaped at the new person as she frowned and crossed her arms.

"Well? Where's Taako?"

Angus's eyes widened. "Taako? The elven wizard? Blonde?  _That_ Taako?"

She nodded and frowned. "Wait a minute. Aren't you that kid from the train? And the training? I... I'm Lup." At his blank stare, she continued. "Ya know, from the words burned on the wall?"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I think you're from farther ahead in the timeline than I am. I only had just died being thrown off the train when I got sent here."

"Sent here by who?"

"Istus, the goddess of fate."

"Why did she grab my Umbrella?"

Angus shuffled slightly. "Well, actually, Istus  _didn't_ take it. A giant cat did."

"A... Giant Cat?"

"His name is Heathcliff," Aubrey added.

"Right," Lup said, clearly uncertain about the validity of what she was hearing. "Yeah,  _anyway_ , why don't you bring me back to Taako so we can do one of those sappy reunion-y things."

"From what I've heard, that'll be a bit harder to do than ya think," Duck said.

"What do you  _mean_?"

"Oh, right," Angus said, "I forgot that you weren't aware. This isn't the Planar system we came from. This is different."

"We're in a different Planar System?"

Angus nodded.

"And you're from Faerûn?"

Again, Angus nodded.

"And you haven't seen any silver ships around here, have you?"

Angus shook his head.

"Welp," she said, the 'P' giving a  _pop_ , "We're screwed." She turned to the Pine Guard. "Well, I'm assuming you're the natives around here. So, what kinda work is there for an Elven Lich with Evocation Magic?"

With the most planned, written timing possible, Barclay walked into the room with a stack of books in his arms just in time to hear Lup's statement.

"What?" He exclaimed.

The Pine Guard were shocked by Barclay's sudden outburst, but Lup didn't seem to notice, simply focusing on the blue, leather-bound journal. She walked slowly towards it, gently pulling one from Barclay's grip and leafing through the pages.

"Luc..." She whispered, still transfixed by the book.

"Do you..." Barclay looked at Lup. "Do you know the author?"

She chuckled a little, but it seemed sad. "Yeah, that's  _one way_ of putting it."

She closed the book.

"Who wrote it?" Angus asked.

"It was... a friend of mine. A woman named Lucretia. She was the chronicler for our group. She was great at what she did, always having  _at least_ one book on her at all times, writing down everything she saw, everything we did. She was such a nice, kind, sensitive girl." Lup sighed. "Then something happened on one of our cycles. Everyone died... everyone but her. She managed to escape, but... whatever happened on that world changed her. She was never quite the same."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Aubrey said quietly.

"It's fine. I just... I need to get back to where I was. She's gone a bit, well, out of control."

"I'm sorry for breaking in," Barclay said, taking back the book gently, "But did you say you were a lich earlier?"

"Oh, yes, you did, didn't you," Angus remembered, taking a small step back.

"Yeah, I'm am," she said, noticing Angus's step, "But I'm fine. I swear."

"I am sure you are, Ma'am. I'm just being cautious."

"Back on topic," Ned said, not understanding the gravity, "You said you knew the author. Does that mean you know about this _Hunger_  thing?"

"The Hunger? It's here?" She seemed distressed.

"Yeah, and from what  _detective boy_ here tells us- along with your author buddy - we're all screwed."

"Wel, kinda," Lup said, thinking, "But maybe... not..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the 29th when I'm writing this so I don't know how many more chapters I'll be able to bang out before NaNo.
> 
> (It was one, by the way. Also, after looking back, I realise Lup shouldn’t be able to touch the journal, and other things later, so just ignore that little plot hole. It’s too late to change it.)


	10. Lock and Load

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup makes something fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it until December, though, and It's kinda short. But don't worry. I'll make up for it in later.

"What do you mean 'maybe not'? What kind of cryptic bull is that? Cryptic bull is  _my_ thing."

Lup sighed. "I  _mean_ that I may be able to help you guys deal with this. In a manner of speaking."

"What'd'ya mean?" Duck asked.

"I think I might have a way to help you guys deal with this thing  _and_ to get myself and the kid over there back to Faerûn."

"You do?" Angus asked, skeptical.

"Again, I said I  _might_. Don't get all Sherlock Holmes-y on me."

"Who?"

"Sherlock... Sherlock Holmes... You know..." She looked cluelessly over at the Pine Guard. "Do... Do  _you guys_ have Sherlock Holmes?"

"Yeah, we have those books," Aubrey said, almost unsure.

"What books?" Lup asked.

 "Anyway, the idea for helping us  _not die_?" Ned broke in asking.

"Right, that," Lup said as she reentered that train of thought, "Well, you have my Umbra Staff, did you get any other magical artifacts?"

"Yeah."

"Show me."

They brought the giant sword and the magic flashlight, as well as the broken umbrella -  _"Umbra Staff"_ \- out to where Lup was waiting. She took them and laid them out on a nearby table. She looked at the broken staff, frowned, then tossed it aside as she inspected the other two artifacts. She looked them over closely, then her eyes flashed with delight.

"I have an idea."

There's a pause.

"Do you want to share it with the class?" Ned asked sarcastically.

"Oh, right," Lup blushed faintly but quickly recovered, "Well, I might be able to rig some sort of mechanism out of these objects. I'll have to see. It's been a while since I've made magical artifacts." She paused, looking almost lost in thought. "In fact, the last one I made was the Umbra Staff."

"Well," she said, shaking herself from her stupor, "Let's get started."

* * *

 

She got to work quickly, taking them apart and studying their magical elements, then fixing them together in a way that made no sense to anyone else in the room.

She was fusing them together with magic in the most unconventional shapes. Every so often, she would frown, cast some spell, and undo the work she had just done, returning it to the base pieces. She especially fiddled around with the sword, mumbling things under her breath of how she would "have to preserve the life force" and that she couldn't "mess with it _too_ much".

Finally, she stepped back, though she had that unsure frown on her face.

"I'm almost done, I just need some sort of... arcane focus."

They all thought, then the Pine Guard's eyes fell on Angus. He had the same thought, already pulling out the wand given to him by Heathcliff. Lup took it with a smile and returned to her work. 

* * *

A half hour later, she was done.

She held up the artifact, which now barely looked like any one part. Instead of some sword-flashlight-umbrella-wand hybrid, it instead had a tube-like structure with an arcane glow coming from within.

"This, my dear humans, is what I call and Baddy Bazooka."

She smiled as she held it, then pulled some sort of slide made from the handle of the umbrella. It gave a click and hummed more, the light pulsing. She grinned.

"Lock and Load, my friends."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you guys soon!


	11. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final showdown occurs, Angus wakes up, and Istus plots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guessed it. This is the last chapter. However, I - or, well, someone else, but you'll see - has some other people for Angus to meet and other places for Angus to go, so keep an eye out for those coming soon.

Aubrey grinned. "That's pretty si-"

Screams outside interrupted her.

"I think that's our cue!" Lup shouted before running out.

The Pine Guard and Angus ran out after her to be faced with a horrific scene. Although it was the day, the sky was black. Through the inky darkness, bright, vibrant colors ran in a blocky fashion. Tendrils of the black ooze plowed into the ground and large, monstrous creatures chased people around. The Pine Guard looks at each other, then ran in separate directions, with the two men running to pull people out of the way while Aubrey launched fire at anything that came too close. Angus had pulled out the crossbow that he still had on him and began firing at the monsters around him, if not to at least hold them back a little.

"Great work, my dudes!" Lup called from where she was setting the large gun against some sort of stand she made from a chair. "I'm just gonna need a couple more minutes. Think you can distract them?"

Aubrey smirked and lit a flame in her hand. "Can do!"

She tossed the fireball at the nearest monster, that dissolved in a burst of flames with a screech. 

Lup returned to her work while the four were left to theirs. 

* * *

It was like a scene from an action movie Aubrey had seen as a teenager. She was on one end of the lawn in front of Amnesty Lodge facing off against 5 or so of the monsters; wind and fire were keeping their numbers down, but they kept coming. A couple of feet from her, facing off against another few was Duck, who had found Beacon in the fray. She wasn't sure how, but she figured it was because of some magic bullcrap. Closer to the center of the lawn, caught in the fray, are Ned - armed with his Narf blaster - and Angus with a  _goddamn, real crossbow._ Who let a  _child_ have an  _actual WEAPON_ is beyond Aubrey.

Her musings ended as she shot another blast of fire at an approaching monster. She turned to hold out a wall of wind in front of her to stem the flow of these monsters. She heard a noise from behind her and spun around just in time to see and dodge the large arm-like appendage swinging at her. She tossed it back with wind and engulfed it in flames.

She glanced away at the sound of pain from Duck, only to see him being overrun by the monsters. She was about to run over to him, only for her to look back at her monster and find it slowly standing back up rather than dissolving from the fire. She looked over to Angus and Ned, only to find them in a similar situation.

"Lup, you almost ready?" She called out, her voice shaking minutely.

"Almost there! Just a little longer," she called back.

"Well, hurry up."

Aubrey threw up more wind to keep the monsters back. It didn't seem to push them back as far as it had, but it was still working enough to keep her safe. She looked over to Duck and, though taxing, threw some of his monsters farther from him. He looked over, slightly, but gave an appreciative nod before returning to his combat. She looked over at Angus and Ned and was about to do the same when something happened.

It seemed like Angus got hit, but Aubrey saw a wave of pure energy flow from where Angus was standing, destroying all the monsters surrounding he and Ned. Neither of the men had any clue what had happened, but they quickly had to take back up arms as more monsters shambled over to them.

That weird... event... could wait until they were finished with the battle. 

* * *

Lup fiddled with her gun a bit as she positioned it on the broken chair she was using as a stand. She tried to position in to hit the most of the colorful veins as possible. It was hard, but eventually, she found a large enough cluster of colors that she could hit in the blast radius of the weapon.

She looked back and saw the humans being overrun. She sent a blast of pure magical energy and destroyed them.

"Come on! Over here."

They all raced over and stood around her.

"This is it. I don't know for sure if this will work, but it should. So, who wants to try?"

"Wait, you're not doin' it?" Duck asked.

"I mean, I  _could_ , but where's the fun in that?"

"I'll do it," Ned said, walking up to the gun.

Lup patted him on the shoulder and he knelt down to be able to look through the sight of the gun.

"I have it all lined up, all you need to do it press the trigger."

Ned nodded and, without a sarcastic comment, pressed the trigger. A hum started and a light began growing. Soon, it was bright enough that, when it actually fired, no one could see anything. 

* * *

When Angus's vision cleared, it looked like he was still outside Amnesty Lodge, but the Hunger was gone, and everything was grey and frozen. In front of him, Istus stood with her tapestry, slowly knitting in new strings and extending it.

"Did... Did I die again, ma'am?"

Istus chuckled quietly. "Not this time, Angus. I just pulled you from time briefly to talk with you." She smiled at him. "After I set you back, you're going to need to say your goodbyes and I'll bring you back to your own plane. I'll bring back Lup and the artifacts, as well, and make sure everything is returned to where it needs to be."

"And when I get back, I'll be alive?"

"Of course, Angus. I wouldn't lie to you. You will wake up on the ground by the train tracks.  _Alive._ Oh, and don't forget to search out Taako, Merle, and Magnus. Trust me, you'll want to."

Angus nodded, then found the color slowly returning. 

* * *

Lup, Aubrey, Ned, and Duck all stood around, happily cheering.

They had  _won_.

Angus walked over with a small smile.

"It's time for me to say goodbye."

They all quieted down. Lup was the one to break the silence.

"Guess I'm hitching a ride with you, short stack."

Angus laughed quietly. "Yes, I guess you are, ma'am."

Aubrey walked over and held up a hand to both of them for a high five, which they both gave. "It was really cool to meet you guys. You were super cool."

Duck walked over and nodded to them. "Nice to get to help you, folks. Glad I got to meet you instead of having another Minerva training session, Angus."

Ned walked up and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. He looked at Angus first. "You're not so bad, kid."

He turned to Lup. "You're pretty cool. Hey, could I keep that gu-"

"No," Lup and Angus said simultaneously.

Lup went over and grabbed the gun, before returning to Angus's side. Angus and Lup backed up and soon the world around them faded to grey and someone placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Time to go home, you two," Istus said before they found themselves transported somewhere else. 

* * *

 Lup woke up once more in the Umbra Staff. While she was kinda pissed, it was nice to feel Taako's presence once more. 

* * *

Angus awoke with a gasp on the ground by the train tracks, just as Istus had said. He sat up just in time to watch a raven fly away and to see a crowd forming around the gates to Neverwinter. He laughed slightly before standing up - a little stiff - and headed to the gates to finish his job and met with those three idiots again. 

* * *

Istus sat in the Raven Queen's throne room, watching the events unfold as they were planned. After all, it would be a shame for her to have to restart her tapestry.  _Again_. Those Birds were doing horrors to her knitting projects.

The Raven Queen watched with her. "Are you sure he will be alright? Death is notably traumatic, especially for children."

"Oh, he'll be fine," Istus said, "after all, he's Angus McDonald, the World's Greatest Detective."

Istus smiled out to - seemingly - nothing, though the Raven Queen had seen her do this enough times to know that it wasn't nothing.

 

"Maybe I'll have him do a couple more favors for me. Would you all like that?"

 

She smiles. "I think I will." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys SO MUCH for all the support!!! This has been SO much fun to write and is actually the first fanfiction I've ever actually finished (that wasn't a one-shot). Keep your eyes out for the next one. I'll be adding this to a series so I can keep them all in one place, so make sure you keep your eye out there.
> 
> Next Up: Magnus's New (Old?) Friends
> 
> (EDIT: The new story is up and you can get to it via the series link at the end of this chapter or at the top in the info box.)


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